Japanese cars lead Consumer's picks

[Narci]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...2154&t=TS_Home

Japanese cars lead Consumer's picks
Mar. 2, 2006. 08:09 AM
ASSOCIATED PRESS


DETROIT — For the first time, all the top picks in Consumer Reports magazine's annual vehicle guide are made by Japanese automakers.

The Honda Civic is the magazine's top small sedan, while the Toyota Highlander Hybrid is the top mid-sized sport utility vehicle, results released Wednesday showed. Vehicles from Nissan Motor Co. and Subaru, a division of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., round out the top picks in 10 categories.

Asian brands also fared best in the magazine's survey of vehicle reliability. Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus brand was first, while Honda was second and the Toyota brand was third. Ford Motor Co.'s Mercury brand was the only domestic nameplate to crack the top 10.

Consumer Reports' rankings are important to automakers, even though companies can't use the ratings in their advertising. Consumer Reports spokeswoman Lauren Hackett said the April auto issue is consistently the magazine's most popular, selling more than 300,000 copies at newsstands. That's twice as many copies as its second-most popular issue, the November electronics issue.

Consumer Reports began its top picks list in 1997. It is based on road and track tests, evaluations of comfort, convenience and fuel economy, crash-protection ratings from the government and insurance industry and readers' reliability rankings. The magazine said it recently tested more than 200 vehicles to come up with its top picks.

Honda had the most winners, snagging top picks in five of the 10 categories. Besides the redesigned Civic, the Honda Accord was the top family sedan between $20,000 and $30,000 and the Acura TL was the top upscale sedan between $30,000 and $40,000. The Honda Odyssey was the top minivan and the Honda Ridgeline, which is Honda's first entry in the pickup market, was the top pickup.

Toyota and Subaru each had two winners, including the Subaru Forester for small SUV and the Toyota Prius for "green car." Nissan had one, the M35 luxury sedan, which the magazine called "an excellent balance of performance, comfort and handling."

Reliability rankings are based on a survey of Consumer Reports subscribers who are asked if they have had serious problems with their vehicles in the last 12 months. The survey questions readers about 17 different trouble spots. For this year's survey, readers rated their experience with 810,000 vehicles from the 1998 through 2005 model years.

Consumer Reports said Japanese and Korean brands had 12 problems for every 100 vehicles, while U.S. automakers had 18 problems and European makers had 21 problems. Asian and U.S. automakers have been improving their scores but appeared to stall in 2005, the magazine said. European automakers' ratings haven't changed substantially in the last four years, the magazine said.

After Lexus, Honda and Toyota, the brands rounding out the top 10 for reliability were Mitsubishi, Subaru, Acura, Scion, Mercury, Mazda and Suzuki. The 10 lowest-rated brands were Audi, Infiniti, Saturn, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Hummer and Porsche.

[gordholio]

"Consumer Reports said Japanese and Korean brands had 12 problems for every 100 vehicles..."

[gilboman]

"Consumer Reports said Japanese and Korean brands had 12 problems for every 100 vehicles..."

it also said all 10 recommended cars in respective categories were all JAPANESE 5 from honda, 2 from toyota, 2from subaru and one from nissan

[mau108]

"Consumer Reports said Japanese and Korean brands had 12 problems for every 100 vehicles..."

compared to 500 problems for every 1 vehicle for domestics and euros

[wong8egg]

compared to 500 problems for every 1 vehicle for domestics and euros

rofl

[Slippery_Pete]

Its all true when CR reports Asian brands to be good. Its all lies when they report an American brand to be good. Long live Asia!

[SkiD]

I'm not sure how much I would trust Consumer Reports when it comes to rating cars (their survey methodology leaves a little to be desired). People should make decisions based on a variety of information, not just one source.


JD Power 2005 Initial Quality Study (# of problems per 100 vehicles)

Asian
81 - Lexus
105 - Toyota
109 - Infiniti
110 - Hyundai
112 - Honda
116 - Acura
118 - Industry Average
120 - Nissan
129 - Mitsubishi
134 - Scion
138 - Subaru
140 - Kia
149 - Mazda
151 - Suzuki

North American
100 - Buick
104 - Cadillac
110 - HUMMER
113 - GMC
113 - Lincoln
118 - Industry Average
120 - Jeep
120 - Mercury
121 - Chrysler
127 - Chevrolet
127 - Ford
129 - Pontiac
130 - Dodge
136 - Saturn

European
88 - Jaguar
95 - BMW
104 - Mercedes-Benz
106 - Audi
118 - Industry Average
130 - MINI
136 - Saab
140 - Volvo
147 - Porsche
147 - Volkswagen
149 - Land Rover

[hightech]

Not sure about that

I have a 2001 Buick Century and a 2002 Camry V6 and the Buick has less issues, and cost me $8K less

[bunga]

I see a big problem with JD Power right there. How can buick have 29 less than chevy? As far as I'm aware these cars are pretty much identical to the rest of the GM line up as they just "rebrand" the same car to suit the nameplate. I'd bet they build the cars right beside each other on the same assembly line too

[frogger]

They lost me picking the Ridgeline, the $35K truck with a puny bed and no v8 available.

[frogger]

I see a big problem with JD Power right there. How can buick have 29 less than chevy? As far as I'm aware these cars are pretty much identical to the rest of the GM line up as they just "rebrand" the same car to suit the nameplate. I'd bet they build the cars right beside each other on the same assembly line too

And a Lexus ES is a loaded up Camry and their SUV's are fancy Toyotas too.

[gilboman]

I see a big problem with JD Power right there. How can buick have 29 less than chevy? As far as I'm aware these cars are pretty much identical to the rest of the GM line up as they just "rebrand" the same car to suit the nameplate. I'd bet they build the cars right beside each other on the same assembly line too

because they are not identical. panels, some features and interior pieces are different.

[gilboman]

And a Lexus ES is a loaded up Camry and their SUV's are fancy Toyotas too.

big differnce is lexus is made in japan whereas most toyotas you buy here are made in USA/Canada . (with execption of some RX which are built in canada)

[Slippery_Pete]

big differnce is lexus is made in japan whereas most toyotas you buy here are made in USA/Canada . (with execption of some RX which are built in canada)

Which simpky makes them cheaper to buy. A Lexus could be made in NA too, but you wouldn't want to pay a similar price for a Toyota as you would a Lexus would you? Where would the status be then? You see a Lexus HAS to be more expensive than a Toyota, hook or crook.

[gilboman]

Which simpky makes them cheaper to buy. A Lexus could be made in NA too, but you wouldn't want to pay a similar price for a Toyota as you would a Lexus would you? Where would the status be then? You see a Lexus HAS to be more expensive than a Toyota, hook or crook.

a lexus can't be made in NA because there simply is no capacity, and besides, with emphasis on quality at toyota, doubt they want their premium brand to be assembled by N.Americans